Sunday, 2 November 2003

The long and short of it

I owe everyone an apology for overlooking this letter in the Sunday Telegraph last week:

Re: The long and short of itDate: 26 October 2003
The 37 primates who attended the crisis meeting at Lambeth Palace may not agree on everything, but judging by your photograph of them they do have one thing conspicuously in common. With the exception of one, all of them, including our own Archbishop of Canterbury, are wearing trousers that need shortening by two or three inches.
Perhaps they are too saintly to have noticed. But if, as your reporter writes in her accompanying article, “the threadbare fabric of unity is unravelling”, this is not the only thing that will be unravelling, because, as my husband points out, trousers that are too long wear out more quickly than ones that are the right length.
It would be a kindness to the primates if someone suggested that they visit their tailors.From:
(Mrs) Patricia Davies, London, W4

Re: The wrong trousersDate: 2 November 2003
Your correspondent noticed the length of the trousers worn by the primates attending a meeting at Lambeth Palace (Letters, October 26), and suggested that they should visit their tailors to have them altered.
Other readers may have noticed the fact that the primates wore trousers at all, and possibly think that they should visit their tailors to be measured for the correct episcopal kit.
Bishops (and, a fortiori, archbishops) cannot be expected to be taken seriously if they cannot be bothered to wear, on formal occasions, the clothes appropriate to their high station - which do not include trousers.From:
P C Thompson, Worcester